youth-kenya

The National Youth In Agribusiness Forum (PAINT-Y)

The
National Youth in Agribusiness Forum will take place on Tuesday 27th November
2018 at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi from 7.00 am- 7.00
pm. The theme for this year is “Investing in the Next
Frontier in Agricultural Transformation” and aims to bring county,
national, regional and international stakeholders working towards supporting
the youth in the agri-food sector. The Forum is one of the components
under the PAINT-Y platform.

PAINT – Y (Promoting Agribusiness Investment Network and Trade
for Youth) is a platform that
appreciates the numerous initiatives that exist towards supporting youth in
agribusiness and it is this rich pool of information, knowledge, experiences
and expertise that PAINT-Y brings it all together with the goal of transforming
agriculture and food systems for Kenya and the region. PAINT-Y is designed on
the proposition that if all stakeholders can link to each other at their point
of convergence, share an

Stakeholder meeting PAINT-Y!

AgriProFocus, Kenya in collaboration with Kenerava Group will today hold a stakeholders meeting on Youth in Agribusiness and how they can harness opportunities for collective action for scale and impact. The aim of the meeting is to share insights from the scan done by AgriFocus on the status of Kenyan youth in Agribusiness, provide a platform for youths in agribusiness to share their struggles, successes and the role of stakeholders in creating an effective support ecosystem for youth to thrive and grow. Lastly, there will be a launch of PAINT-Y, a platform that uniquely puts youth in the driving seat of their agenda. PAINT-Y aims to Inspire, Connect and facilitate Collaboration.

First PAINT-Y Expo planned in 2018!

The first ever Promoting Agribusiness Investment Networking and Trade for Youth (PAINT-Y) is being organised to take place in the next few months.

The Expo will seek to bring together young agri-entrepreneurs seeking to grow their businesses; government, development partners, and investors looking for investable and innovative youth-led agri-entreprises to invest in and support.

Target

The Expo is targeting 250+ Young agri-entrepreneurs (age 18 – 35) with at least two year old agri-enterprises; and 50+ stakeholders supporting young agri-entrepreneurs.

What to expect at the Expo

> An entrepreneur Showcase

>Multiple B2B and B2C meetings intended to open new business opportunities and networks

for young agri-entrepreneurs.

>Series of interactive formats including panel discussions, round-tables and presentations.

Opinion: We can make agricultural work attractive for Africa's youth. Here's how: By Esther Ngumi

In Zimbabwe, it is hard to sell agriculture as a meaningful career for the youth. To them, the cities hold more promise than the fields. Similarly, in Kenya, many youths would rather migrate to the cities than stay in the rural areas to pursue a career in agriculture. They have real reasons to back their choice: Agriculture can be tedious, labor intensive, a risky business, unrewarding, and unproductive. Further, many cannot afford to raise the capital needed to secure land and other equipments and inputs needed to launch a successful and thriving agribusiness.

Yet, there are many success stories coming from Africa of successful youth agripreneurs, who, despite the above hurdles have used their skills, creativity, and innovation and leveraged on technology to build strong, thriving agribusinesses. They are making a career out of agriculture.

ONLINE DISCUSSION: Sensitizing Youth in Agribusiness on Quality,
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards as a key driver for Market development

From
the internet, TV or journals and newspapers we receive a constant stream of
information about health risks associated with the food we eat. Food arrives in
every home from all over the world and it is a sensitive commodity. It can be
affected by contamination from microbes, heavy metals and toxins which get to
the food inadvertently through poor hygiene, or it can be tampered with
intentionally via food fraud. Everything that finds its way into food, if not
used correctly, can be dangerous. Food additives, intentionally put into food
to facilitate production, Residues of pesticides, used to protect plants
against pests that may ruin our harvest and cause famines and Residues of
veterinary drugs used in animal production.

Population growth, animal health and
climate change are important issues affecting our food supply and as the United
Nations f

The purpose of the Agriculture apprenticeship is to fill the gap for skilled manpower in farms and to create employment opportunities for the rapidly growing masses of unemployed graduates of Kenya learning institutions.

The world
population is estimated to be over 9 billion by 2050 with the greatest
challenge being food insecurity. With this encroaching danger, efforts by global
bodies led by the United Nations to solve the problem have been enhanced. However,
I am afraid the effort is not bearing fruits as expected.

Of importance to
me is the role of youth in establishing sustainable and resilient agricultural
projects. Resilience happens when we are able to put a human face to
development interventions- FAO. According to Africa Agenda 2063, Youth and
women have been given a prominent role in establishing and sustaining economies
in Africa through agriculture. This has also been echoed by the United Nation.

Although there
exist new valuable knowledge, technology and skills to help in enhancing
productivity in agriculture; either adoption rate has been slow or communication
of information has failed.

Workshop on Youth Engagement in Cooperatives Management

In collaboration with Agriterra, AgriProFocus will convene a 2 day
workshop for 60 youths drawn from cooperatives working with Agriterra. This workshop fits well with our vision
of seeing more youths in leadership positions within the agribusiness sector.

The aim of the 2 day workshop is to have young farmers within the
cooperatives working with Agriterra organize themselves better to be able to
advocate for inclusion in the cooperative management. This will involve looking
at what their responsibility as young farmers is towards the cooperative. In addition, the young farmers will look at the role of the
cooperatives in enhancing more youth participation in management.

Objectives

·
To
provide a platform to share and learn from each other on already existing best
practices from the Netherlands [Dutch Young Farmers Organisation] as well as
local cooperatives that have successfully set up youth councils within their
management structure.

A day out with the young agribusiness entrepreneurs

Agriculture is the major sector
in Kenya yet young people do not want to venture in it to sustain themselves and
create employment. The youth will always think of agriculture as something to do
when they retire from offices. There are many parties coming together to ensure
that the youth are empowered to venture into agribusiness and promote food
security in the world.

It is with this reason that AgriProFocus
Kenya in partnership with USIU-Africa’s Global Agribusiness Management and entrepreneurship
(GAME) Center hosted a youth in agribusiness trendsetter’s caravan on 24th
March 2016. The event was held at USIU-Africa and was officially opened by Professor
Francis Wambalaba from USIU-Africa.

One of the most interesting
activities that took place during the forum is the ideation through simulation.
The simulation activity is a practical guide to running a successful enterprise.
Youth in the forum found the activity very involvin

YOUTH IN AGRIBUSINESS TRENDSETTERS CARAVAN

AgriProFocus Kenya in partnership with United States International University (USIU) – Africa’s Global Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship (GAME) Centre invites you to our 1st trendsetters networking forum on Thursday 24th March 2016 at USIU-Africa from 1.00 -5.00 pm .

AgriProFocus has provided a neutral platform for networking, sharing and learning and would like to build onto the successes achieved so far. We cannot do this alone and we would like to invite you to a networking and brainstorming session. The objectives of this forum include:

1. Joint visioning on the shared goal to be achieved through the activities of the trendsetters' caravan

2. Joint planning for activities in 2016-2017

3. Explore strategic partnerships to profile the caravan

The forum as usual will provide enough opportunity for networking, sharing and learning. Details of the event and invitation letter are attached below.

International Congress on Innovations in Agriculture (ICIA)

The role of
technology and innovations in the improvement of agriculture and food
production sector is not in dispute any more. It is important that we leverage
these innovative solutions to benefit owners of agricultural enterprises, food
security, climate change mitigation and creation of job opportunities.

Who will attend?

The
conference is “a must attend” event for farmers in Africa to learn and source
for new products and technologies that can raise yields, ease their operations,
reduce impact on natural resources, combat climate change and increase
profitability. It will give exhibitors an opportunity to showcase their
innovations and products, establish new relationships with buyers, take
products forward into new markets and help increase sales. It will be an
important forum for authorities to understand the benefits of effecting sustainable
agriculture policies and programs, find technologies that would work for their
communities and meet international partners. Supply chain p

Trendsetter Moment of the month: Focus on Jolly footprints

On Friday 6th November 2015, Kees Wantenaar - AgriProFocus Board chairperson and Gijs Aarts, accompanied by AgriProFocus staff went to visit a practical farm in Matasia, Kajiado County. Kees and Gijs came to Nairobi to attend the regional extensive livestock expo which took place from 4 - 6 November 2015. In line with this, they saw the need to visit a practical farm. 2 years ago, Jolly footprints was discovered under the leadership of Teresiah Ng’ang’a. Jolly Footprints thrives in breeding and supply of Improved Kienyeji chicken commonly known as Kuroiler chicken.

This variety is a special species of chicken that takes about 4 months to mature and it tastes better than the common broiler chicken. As a master graduate from Wagenigen University, Teresiah has no regrets whatsoever venturing into agribusiness. She is a living example that youth can make up decisions to employ others and not chase the white collar jobs.

Inspiration and Knowledge Exchange at the Kajiado Youth Forum.

On 7th November, 2015, Kajiado county government in
partnership with SCAD, ACTIONAID, AMREF and KAPA hosted a youth forum at
KCB grounds, Kajiado Town.

This forum brought the youth to participate in marathon and later on do
presentation in different sectors in agriculture. The main aim of
congregating at the KCB grounds was to discourage youth in Kajiado
County from engaging in drug abuse and explore constructive
opportunities in agriculture that can generate income and improve lives.

The event was
graced by the governor of Kajiado county who advised the youth that they had a short time as youths to chart out their future.

AgriProFocus Kenya was represented by
trendsetters from the youth in Agribusiness caravan and two staff members. The trendsetters included
Leah Wambui Mwehia of Kiambu Strawberries, Peter Githinji of chickway poultry and
Ruth of Top Farmer Magazine. Mr. Moses Kinaiya of Mifugo trade presented

One of our youth trendsetters had a chance to participate in the African Green Revolution Forum 2015 in Zambia. Below is a video clip of what he shared during this forum. We are proud of you Claudius Kurtna!!

World Bank Group Youth Summit 2015 from November 16-17, 2015 in Washington, DC

Deadline: 3 October 2015

The World Bank Youth Summit 2015 will be held from November 16-17, 2015 in Washington, DC, USA on the theme of ‘Crowd-Sourcing Solutions for Climate Change.’ The Summit invites young people from around the world to use their knowledge and creativity to crowdsource solutions for climate change that contribute to growth and development in developing and emerging countries.

The 2nd Western Agribusiness Investment Symposium & Exhibition will focus on Business to Business (B2B), Business to Government (B2G), meetings, exhibitions, Networking Sessions, Deal Making, Business Plan Reviews and Business Case Studies.AgriProFocus Kenya will take lead in facilitating the youth in agribusiness forum which will be part of the program.

The symposium will endeavour to unpack value chains for various crops and commodities, processing & va

IITA announces workshop on integrating youth in CGIAR research programs

"With growing numbers of disenfranchised youth around the world and a strong focus on finding opportunities for their engagement and employment, CGIAR is committed to finding ways to approach the topic and planning appropriate activities, especially through its second generation of research programs."

They are seeking organizations and individuals with expertise and experience in working with youth engagement, enterprise and employment, particularly (but not exclusively) in agriculture to join this workshop.

The workshop will take place in Montpellier, France, September 8-9th 2015

Kathiani Market Event: One on One with the small scale Producer

It was quite delightful seeing farmers geared up to trade at the market place during our first lower eastern Market event in 2015. There was much to see at the event that was organized by AgriProFocus Kenya in partnership with the Machakos County Government. The Market event which was held on 30th July 2015 at the Kathiani DC grounds was graced by the county executive commissioner Ruthie Mutua.

The Kathiani market event was seen to be successful as it brought together about 45 service providers of which 25 of them were farmer groups who showcased their products and innovations from different sectors in agriculture. Most of them could tell that the event was helpful to them as there was much to learn from each other. “I have grown thorn melons as a small scale farmer for about three years now but all the knowledge I have was acquired through the internet. I am glad that AgriProFocus could organize this event for us to learn

Market Systems Advisor - Food Trade East & Southern Africa - Kenya

DAI has been contracted by DFID to implement the 5 Year FoodTrade
East and Southern Africa (FTESA) Programme. FTESA will be based in Dar
es Salaam, and will cover the nine countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania and Uganda (East Africa) and Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and
Zimbabwe (Southern Africa). FoodTrade ESA will systemically improve the
functioning of national and regional staple food market systems;
impacting directly on over 400,000 households and consumers through
stable markets for staple food products. It will achieve this through
the establishment of a Project Management Unit (PMU) to foster catalytic
and innovative solutions through the use of two facilitative tools: a
Challenge and Development Fund.

FoodTrade ESA uses a market-based approach to working with
enterprises to promote the participation of poor men and women in wealth
creation and improving the benefits they gain from engaging in st

Program Officer, Advocacy Reporting and Communication

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is working with
African governments, donors, NGOs, the private sector and African
farmers to significantly and sustainably improve the productivity and
incomes of resource poor farmers in Africa through agricultural
development.

Specific responsibilities will include:

Providing high quality editing and formatting for all program related documents;

Supporting relevant program staff in organizing and managing
seminars, workshops, press conferences and field visits as required;

Supporting relevant program staff in progress reporting and
continuous analysis of the achievements, including peer review as
relevant;

Verifying and de-conflicting information with originators at HQ and in the field;